Like the crusading Washington Wives, singer King Diamond is offended by rock bands' use of satanic themes and imagery. But that's where the similarity ends.

"I haven't seen very many of these bands that actually stand up for--or even know--what they're singing about," the Danish rocker said this week. "It's more like they want to create an image that's pure blood and gore, just trying to be as evil and nasty as possible."

Diamond (who performs Friday at Fender's and Saturday at the Country Club) is offended because he considers himself a bona fide satanist. When rival metal merchants incorporate satanic references into their music, he said, it's "very obviously a gimmick." And it's one that demeans his beliefs.

"Some people think that people who call themselves satanists are really like that, drinking the blood of babies and that sort of thing," he said.

"When I use the word Satan, it doesn't stand for a guy with horns. To me, that word means the powers of the unknown, the powers of darkness. It's not just power, it's powers --and there's a big difference. I don't believe in heaven, and I don't believe in hell as a place with flames where people are burning and having eternal pain. I don't believe in that at all. I believe in a place I call 'beyond.' "

The singer-songwriter said he realizes that his fascination with the occult--the thematic core of the two albums he made with the heavy-metal band Mercyful Fate and his recent solo LP "Fatal Portrait"--will inevitably generate controversy. One doesn't have to be particularly cynical to wonder if that's partly the point.

"But, you know, there's a funny thing about people not accepting you if you sing about the occult," he said. "Look at Stephen King. He's one of America's favorite writers; nobody thinks he's an evil guy walking around doing weird things. But if you're a musician, it's looked at differently for some reason."

In order to minimize misunderstanding, the Copenhagen resident purposely avoided using the words Lucifer and Satan in the songs on "Fatal Portrait," although the record still explores the same themes as his previous work. "More people are understanding what I'm saying now," Diamond said. "They don't misunderstand me so much, don't think I'm some crazy, weird guy."

Of course, this doesn't suddenly make him a purveyor of silly little love songs. If anything, he said, his beliefs have intensified in recent years, and they're still expressed over the roar of standard-issue majestic metal. Those beliefs are not likely to be confused with more conventional forms of worship.

"We believe in revenge, for instance," said Diamond, who performs in striking makeup that includes an inverted cross on his forehead. "If somebody hits you or your very dearest, you don't turn the other cheek--you hit them back 10 times.

"And you don't love everybody, like 'You have to love your fellow man.' That's not the way you believe if you're a satanist. You give tenfold to those you really care about. But those you don't really know, how can you have feelings for them?"

Diamond, 30, said that his interests grew out of a childhood fascination with all things mysterious, including classic horror films like "Frankenstein" and "Dracula," and later "The Exorcist" and "The Omen."

"But what really got me interested were some experiences I had that I could not explain at all. . . . I saw some glasses rising from the table into thin air," he said. When similar episodes followed, he began studying the occult.

If all this doesn't mark Diamond as an unusual rock figure, consider his pre-musical career--as a star of the Danish national soccer team. He played competitively for about a decade, until he decided to pursue music and his fascination with satanism.

While he combines the two, he claims there's no effort to recruit new satanists.

"We are not preachers of any kind. We don't want to convert anybody," said Diamond, adding that he hasn't been the target of any attacks or protests by Christian organizations. "When we are on the road, we do a real horror show--and it's pure entertainment. That's it. I don't force anything onto other people, because you'll never get a good satanist out of forcing somebody to be one."

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

Yeah King has said that is true as well as the floating tea cups in "Them" plus in the song "Welcome Princess of Hell" where they raise our glasses came from that as well. King says that song is about him welcoming these spirits and powers into his home and life

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

I also Read that King wrote a 4 page response to Kerrang about that infamous Dave Dickson interview after it was published but that they would not print King's response to it. I would love to have seen that!

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

I still wish someone would ask King why he freaked out at the thought of wearing gold as it is unhealthy to do so. I am curious to know why he feels so strongly about that. I know he said he freaks when he see's things cross themselves like silverware and tooth picks and he undoes them because it means a death in the family. Yet hearing these things made it funny to see him say in an interview that he is not at all superstitious

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

I do not know that is why I wish someone would ask King. On WRTN the host tried to say King was wearing a gold Satanic Cross and King was like "NO NOT gold you can never wear gold it is not healthy for you!"

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

I do not know that is why I wish someone would ask King. On WRTN the host tried to say King was wearing a gold Satanic Cross and King was like "NO NOT gold you can never wear gold it is not healthy for you!"

Only thing I would think is unhealthy about wearing gold, would depend on which neighborhood you happen to be walling through at the time.

@SatansKingdom: LOL yeah exactly! I was surprised the radio host did not follow up and ask King what he meant though. He just said "Oh its not healthy for you" and King said "Yes" and that was it no explanation at all

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

IDK, I am sure it has something to do with spiritual healing stuff, like with crystals and different herbs. I don't get too much into that stuff, but I am guessing King does. He might know what he is talking about, I have friends that are into it, but it was never my thing.

Here is an audio interview with King Diamond also from 1986 talking about a couple of his experiences with the supernatural and why he stopped using words like "Satan" and "Lucifer" when he first started King Diamond as too many people got the wrong impression of what those words mean so he started singing about Satanism in a different way and using words like "Powers of the Unknown' or "Spirits" instead in order to get his feelings across to people better. And how the song "Satan's Fall" is about how people should not put Satanism down until they have at least researched it and read the Satanic Bible. And that he goes 100 percent for the Philosophy and magical stuff in the Satanic Bible

Another confusing thing someone just pointed out to me is that King has made a huge deal about not playing with these supernatural powers he sings about to the point he even made a song warning us to not mess with them. Then other times he has encouraged fans to try things that might invite them in. Which is it

Plus why does he say he encourage them in his life if it is so dangerous? In an interview he said he sings about them to make people aware of them as the powers can help people with their lives which is why he talks about them so much as well. But then he warns against them too. IDK just some interesting questions I thought someone brought up. I don't suspect we will actually ever know. But I found it interesting when it was brought up

« Last Edit: October 03, 2014, 03:48:55 pm by SatanKing »

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

Playing with them and researching/respectfully talking to them is two VERY different things when it comes to those powers.Also, it depends very much on what kind of powers you seek and how much you know.

Thank you Livia! That actually makes sense then. Not sure what you mean by what kind of Powers though? How many different kinds are there and what makes some different from others? How would one research them if they are unknown?

And in King's song "A Dangerous Meeting" which is a song warning people not to mess around with these powers it sounded like the people in the song were not messing around but knew what they were doing and were serious and respectful.

And yeah there are some that should not be messed with. I was a bit surprised when King has said many times he did not believe in good or evil powers and spirits and that they are all one and the same. I assume he meant that like all things it is subjective as good and evil mean different things to different people. And I assumed he meant as well that he did not believe in good vs evil like god and the devil or angels and demons.

I assume that is what King meant as well when he said that satanists who see satanism from a christian point of view are not showing these powers the proper respect by doing that which is dangerous. Or maybe he meant that due to the christian view of sacrifice he meant they were not showing respect to the powers inside the animals and human animals being sacrificed which could be dangerous.

And when King says he and these powers are one and the same does he mean because he believes he has lived many lives and that the powers he is talking about are the powers of himself from other lives so they are part of him. And not that powers of others are also one and the same with him is what I assume.

Another interesting comment was when King said magical rituals only work if the Powers like you. Maybe that is what he means by him singing about these powers all the time as they might lead us to a better life? Who knows

But like King who says to treat these powers as friends with respect Anton LaVey also stressed that which is maybe where King got that from or maybe he felt that already and once again simply agreed with LaVey

Another curious thing. King said to Dave he invited powers in knowing they will not harm anyone yet Dave gave King a hard time because they did harm the poor girl from Girlschool and even King toned down his invitations during shows since that happened and now does it more subtly without the full ritual. Or the time recently King posted a photo of one of these things on a website and the powers said to him "DAMN U" which does not seem respectful at all! Maybe they were getting back at King for making Them seem evil on the album "Them"

Although King did say "They" were there making sure Tarot Cards fell into the right place when Livia's mom wanted a reading done on King and Livia

« Last Edit: November 06, 2014, 05:57:12 am by SatanKing »

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

King: Because it is about Them, it is all about Them. It's an occult story, a nasty child hood story. I think it would make a great Horror movie. I don't want to talk about what is true and not true on this story, I just don't want to talk about that part.

Host: Some people noticed that after Mercyful Fate you seemed to drop a lot of the Satanic Lyrics, is that the case with the new album? Do you mention Satan or is it pretty much leaving it up to the listener?

King: We have not mentioned Satan since Fatal Portrait, but to say that we are not doing Satanic Stuff is very, very wrong. Some people do not know what Satanism is about and it is not about being evil and walking around saying Hell, Lucifer and may you die and all that stuff, that is not what it is about at all.

Host: So it is kind of going back to what you talked about when you were here last time?

King: Exactly yes

Caller: I want to ask the King how I can convince my parents that I want to be a Satanist.

King: How do you what?

Host: He wants to know what advice you can give him on how he can convince his parents that he wants to be a Satanist

King: And he is not being allowed by them to do so? Well ok first of all he should talk sensible to them. The first thing he should do is get a copy of the Satanic Bible written by Anton Szandor LaVey and read that book and understand it 100 percent. If he does that then it should be easy to convince them that it is nothing dangerous.

Caller: Where did you get the name King Diamond:

King: It goes back to the first band I was in "Brats"where I only played Guitar. We thought we were that good that we should have artists names right away. One guy was named Mike West and one was Jesse James and I was King Diamond. I have no idea where it came from.

Host: King you have three solo albums under your belt now with the upcoming release of "Them". "Fatal Portrait was your first how do you feel about it now?

King: Well I think it is obvious that it is the weakest of the three. I don't know why, maybe because the vocals for that album had to be 90 percent high pitched vocals and only 10 percent normal or growling vocals

Caller: King why did you not have the inverted cross on your forehead for the Family Ghost video, was it to avoid a hassle from MTV?

King: I was told by the record company and the people doing the video that it would not be healthy for me to have the upside-down cross on my forehead if I wanted the video to be played on MTV and other places. So I took the number Nine and put that there instead because it means exactly the same thing but not many people know that. That video was done in a rush so it did not turn out the way we wanted plus I did not like that it had nothing to do with the story but that was obviously too heavy.

Caller: King how do your parents feel about you worshiping the Devil?

King: They are quite fine with it, they know what it's all about and everything as I have explained it.

Host: King I have to apologize for some of our callers they aren't exactly brain surgeons, but is there anything you want to say about that? Do your parents look upon you as a Satanic person or do the love you?

King: they LOVE me

Host: thank you caller you're going to Harvard

Caller: I want to know what is the song the Lake about?

King: The Lake is a single song and is not part of the five songs that make up the story of Fatal Portrait. It is about a little girl who has had a hard time growing up under the guidance of a nun and she rebels against this nun, this little girl has her friends in the lake.

Host: What is your fascination with little girls?

King: You will never know LOL. No to me it's eerie when small girls are into the Occult, this little girl she sees weird things and strange things are going on around her and she protects things. But even small boys, I mean Damien in the Omen is pretty scary when he doesn't want to go to Church and stuff.

Host: We are about to hear the song A Dangerous Meeting and as I recall it is sort of a warning about doing seances?

King: yes Seances, Ouija Boards, seeing the glass move around these letters, it can be dangerous if you are not strong minded enough, and even if you are strong minded it can be dangerous.

Host: What will the new stage show look like? I know last time a doll caught on fire?

King: Yes a lot of things caught fire. At the moment we are working with a magicians circle in England as far as what kind of illusions to use. Also in Sweden at the moment they are building a house from the album to have onstage. It will be like a real house with doors that I can use to go in and out of this house

Host: King people who read interviews know that when you record albums you use only candles in the studio and that you almost burned the studio down?

King: Yes I did something really stupid. There was very little left of the last candle I was using and I told the engineer let’s take a quick coffee break. And I left that little candle next to the lyrics and when we came back it was strangely dark in there. All that was left was burnt up paper and we were lucky it just left a nice little mark on the floor. Must have looked cool from the window though these lyrics burning in the dark.

Caller: I heard you had a fight with Manowar?

King: We were fucked up. That's what happened you know they screwed us all over the place.

Host: And were off the air.

Host: Any chance of a Mercyful Fate Reunion?

King: No, Never. I play with musicians that are professional minded now and some of the band members before were not. They would not do the interviews and in stores that I needed. They were sitting around waiting for the silver tray to be brought to them while the rest of us came up with ideas and stuff and that kind of thing I can’t stand up to. I play with musicians now that are willing to sacrifice anything for the band.

Host: On the Slayer Hell Await inner sleeve is that you standing with Slayer?

King: Yes it was taken at an in-store in Portland Oregon. It was our in-store and Slayer were there as well

Host: Recently a kid committed suicide after listening to an Ozzy Osbourne song Suicide Solution. Do you ever try and put a positive message in your lyrics? Do you ever worry that a listener might go off the deep? What do you want to accomplish with your lyrics?

King: I want to scare the listener especially with his new album. I don’t believe that people who listen to Heavy Metal are that stupid that they do not know what is right or wrong for them. And a horror story is a horror story and there are both positives and negatives in a horror story. I can't help but remember as a kid watching Frankenstein or Dracula for the first time and going to bed and thinking it would come from under my bed and grab me and kill me and all of that and the feeling of relief when Oh he did not come this night.

I think sometimes it is the parents who might take away the music that mean the most to that guy or girl and they are the reason things get frustrated.

Host: What do you think of Charles Manson?

King: I don't know wasn't he a killer or something?

Host: Yeah he was a killer, he claimed he was Jesus Christ.

King: I don't really know that much about him

Caller: Why were there no lyrics included with Melissa and Fatal portrait?

Host: There was wasn't there?

King: There was yes, I am very sorry to hear that. What happens is at some point they are removed by the people doing the packaging. It is not something the record label wants, it is the people doing the packaging that save a few extra cents by doing this and it pisses me, it really pisses me off to hear that

Host: Do you find that the fans know the lyrics?

King: VERY much so. It always amazes me to look down and seeing their lips moving exactly like mine. It would be embarrassing if I suddenly forgot a line and they knew them down there.

Host: I heard that priests have given you a hard time?

King: Yes, I was not always told about this ahead of time, but there would be some christian person who would show up and we would discuss religion and our new album. Once this poor priest tried to review the song A Dangerous Meeting and he said that this song was the worse piece of crap he ever heard and that it was dangerous for kids to listen to and Satanic and all that so I said, well either you don't understand English or you just did not read the lyrics.

Host: When was the last time you did a seance?

King: I don't do seances

Caller: I want to request Nuns have no fun and what was the idea for that song?

King: The idea behind it was that we wanted to annoy some priests were trying to keep us down and give us a hard time. So we took the old witch burning and we turned it around and burned a nun instead and you see it on the cover.

Host: That cover has to be one of the most graphic I have ever seen, did that get banned anywhere?

King: I don't think so. The priests did not like it, but that was the point.

Caller: Where can someone like me find a copy of the Satanic Bible?

King: I don't know much about your Occult bookshops or Bookstores here in NY, but you have to go an Occult bookshop.

Host: Can't you get it at the local grocery store?

King: You can try, but you would be very unlucky I am sure.

Host: Do they sell that regularly in Denmark?

King: Yes, they sell a lot of them. We have a few occult shops and they pretty much have everything and it is like when you go in there it's like Oh so you know about that book that's great! That's how they make you feel. But they sell them and display them just like any other books. The priests don't like it very much as they are losing members of the church every single day in Denmark, but there is nothing they can do; it's a very free country. And there is a clear tendency for people to move away from Christianity, I am not saying all of them want to be Satanists, but people are searching for new ways and things that mean more to their life now.

Host: What do you think about all these evangelists who are getting busted?

King: Well it just proves that they are no better than anybody else, so why don't they stop preaching all that fake morality.

Host: The band Trouble opened for you during one tour, now was that a good fit, Trouble is a Christian metal band, a white metal band, did that contrast at all?

King: No, not at all, we had a great time. I didn't see any big Christian crosses anywhere, at least they didn't act it out it in any way, so we had a great time.

Host: What do you think about Stryper throwing out bibles at their concerts, does that really get your goat or do you care?

King: I don't really care. I just think they should be careful, what if they were to hit somebody in the eye that would be awful wouldn't it lol? But I don't care if they want to go on tour then lets go on tour I don't give a shit.

Caller: King I know you get asked this all the time, but how did you first get into Satanism?

Host: it was the cups right?

King: Yes some glasses were rising in the air and stuff in my apartment and that got me interested in the Occult. So I started reading a lot of books about the Occult and the way they described Satanism was not very nice, I couldn't go for that at all because it seemed sick to me. Then one day in a bookstore I came across the Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey and I read that book and I realized I was already living the life philosophy in that book so I have been going 100 percent for that ever since.

Host: Do you ever go to church King?

King: Yes, I have been to the Satanic Church in San Francisco.

Host; I mean the catholic Church?

King: Oh lol No, I don't see the point.

Host: Are there any horror writers who are into the Occult that influence you?

King: A few, Stephen King and an English writer James Herbert the most.

Host: LaVey?

King: Well he's not a horror writer, but his ideas and Life Philosophy have certainly influenced me more than anything else.

Caller: King I heard that you can make things levitate?

King: No, I don't think I ever said that, but I have seen things going up in the air, being moved around, I have been touched by things hundreds of times.

Host: You can't make Tony disappear can you?

King: lol If you give me time

Host: This Ouija Board thing that is popular what can you tell us? Is it BS or what?

King: What do you want to know about them?

Host: Like do you think they can lift people off the ground? Josh from Toxic really want's to know LOL

Caller: I am a witch, a WHITE witch OK, I am a WHITE witch and I want to know why King calls witches Satanists?

Host: King she wants to know why you call witches Satanists? And this chick just got off a spaceship but have you ever said that in a magazine or something?

King: No, if I have they must have misquoted me, witches are not necessarily Satanists

Host: Do you hang with a lot of witches King?

King: Occasionally

Host: Or is it mostly Miriam C-cup type's

King: Yes Definitely preferred

Caller: I have been studying the Occult and I want to know if King is into Satanism or Occultism or both?

Host: King he has been studying Satanism and he wants to know if you are into the Occult or Satanism?

King: I'd say both

Caller: I am in a Satanic Coven and I wanted to ask King, what is the Church of Satan really like?

King: It lives up to what you expect of it. When I first read that Bible I had very high hopes for what it would be like. But I was a little bit scarred of being let down when I finally saw it. But when I did it was ten times more serious than I ever thought and it made everything worthwhile.

Host: They have a new leader for the Satanic Church right, LaVey stepped down or something?

King: He is still there, when I visited the Church last summer LaVey was very much in charge.

Host: You met LaVey ?

King: Yes I was invited to the Church last summer during the tour.

Host: What kind of guy is LaVey, is he down-to-earth or is he a nut case?

King: He is VERY down-to-earth, very serious about what he is doing and he can crack a joke like you wouldn't believe.

Host: So this whole Satanic thing he does with putting out the books he is not just doing this to cash in, he really believes this stuff?

King: You bet he does.

Caller: On Abigail what do you mean by 18 is actually 9?

King: Well first of all the number 9 is going through the story a lot of places. If you take the ages of Miriam she is 18 years old and 1 plus 8 is nine and Jonathon is 27 and 2 plus 7 are 9. If you take the 7th day of July which is the 7th month and the year 1777 and multiply all the numbers and then add up the results to get 36 and 3 and 6 is Nine. And it goes that way all the way thorough. Nine is the Satanic number, not 666 but Nine.

Host: so where did 666 come from? King: the bible, Revelations, the Christian bible. Host: but that's not the true number, Nine is? King: Right

Nine stands for Abigail because it is the Satanic number and Satanists can be and accept both good and evil, and it is up to the listener to decide if Abigail is good or evil in what she is doing and why she is doing it. 18 stands for Miriam. And it is clear at this point that 18 is now 9, the thing has already been determined. Abigail is now already inside Miriam as she refused to listen to the Family Ghost, so the thing is now already happening. 18 has become 9.

Caller: What do you think of the band Stryper?

King: Well, their doing their thing you know, I don't really like their music, but some people get something out of it so that's good, I don't get anything out of it personally, it's not my cup of tea, but some people like it and that's good, I don't hate it or anything like that.

Host: On the new album Them what parts of the story are real and what parts are made up?

King: That's the part I don't want to talk about.

Caller: Why wasn't the song "Shadow Night" released and when I saw King in 1984 in Chicago he said it was about a ghost that visited him in his bed and I wanted to know if that was true or not?

King: That song was an early version of what we wanted it to become and it was later broken apart and some parts can be found on a song called "Nightmare" if I remember right from Don't Break the Oath

Caller: On the cover of Melissa, What's the symbol on the rams head?

King: That's the symbol of a certain Demon, I can't remember what the name is now, but it is the symbol of a Demon.

Caller: What does Yankee Rose mean in the Satanic Bible?

King: Don't ask me ask LaVey.

« Last Edit: June 19, 2016, 10:18:13 am by SatanKing »

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

Host: she wants to know what you think of Jehovah Witnesses and that is the best question we have had tonight

King: What do I think of them? I don't care; I don't give a damn about other people's beliefs. Religious beliefs are only important to the individual, when it comes to whether or not you can get along with somebody then all that should matter is the personality, not their beliefs. They don't show up at my door anymore because they saw my cross once and it scared them.

Host: King at train stations and stuff people like the Jehovah Witnesses hand out stuff saying join this and join that. Do you think that people should stay clear of that? I mean are you advocating that people join Satanism?

King: No way, I never have and I never will because I think it's stupid. I think people should make up their own minds. I think if people are happy with the religion they have then they should stick with that religion, why have someone put something else on you. The people that they catch when they do that sort of thing usually become bad believers in whatever religion it is.

Caller: King why do you have the sign of the Satanic Statements next to your name on all of your albums?

King: The brimstone Symbol? Yes that is the Mark of the Nine Satanic Statements, correct.

Caller: I want to ask King that if you respect other people's religions then why do you always wear the upside-down crosses, isn't that disrespecting the Christian religion?

Host: I must add that King is wearing a very nice gold upside-down cross right now

King: OH NO not gold, you can never wear gold it's not healthy for you. But no, the upside-down cross means that I am paying respect to the Satanic Philosophy, it is not that I am against Christianity.

Host: Somehow Ole Bang knew that

King: Yes he is nodding in there

Caller: King when you were at the studio last time you kept saying that Satanism is just about the Powers of the Unknown, and not about sacrificing people and drinking their blood and all of that crap. But in your song Black Funeral, you say she is a victim of your coven. Isn't that contradicting what you said that Satanism is not about sacrificing, that it is all about the Powers of the Unknown.

King: No, you can be a victim in tons of ways.

Caller: ok I thought she was maybe killed or something?

King: She gave away information and had a bad time afterwards because of what she did. But of course that is not a true story. If you look on that same album Melissa there is a song called Satan's Fall where it says Seven Satanic Hell preachers bringing the blood of a newborn child and people are like oh so that is what it is all about. But I was fed up at the time with people saying that is what Satanism was about. But if you look there are two lines saying use your demon eyes uncover the disguise. Now take and find out what something is about before you start putting things down is what I meant by that entire song. But I guess the messages were to hidden; now we like to make them more clearer so that no one can misunderstand things.

Caller: King I read this book called Say you love Satan about Ricky Kasso and there is this one part where he says that he is a total expert on Satan. Do you think that anyone can be a total expert on Satan?

King: Not a total expert no. But it depends on what kind. If it is the Christian Satan if you know what I mean then it is pretty much described in the Christian bible what he is about. But the one that I am talking about is not a one, but is POWERS of the unknown, which is VERY indescribable.

Metal Shop Bonus interview: Host: There is a Supernatural side to King Diamond who claims to have witnessed a number of bizarre occurrences in his apartment in Denmark. KING: there was one time in my apartment when Lars and James from Metallica were over and Timi my old Bass player was there sitting with this girl on the couch and I have a Satanic Altar in my living room and all of a sudden everything on the altar including the altar cloth were just thrown all over the floor. I have never seen anyone look so pale Timi and the girl were just sitting there shaking and saying Whats going on here!

Host: All right King on that note let's listen to the Invisible Guests!

King: Words like "Satan" and "Lucifer" are not evil to me but they make many people think of evil due to that is what they usually hear about those words growing up which is why I removed those words when we started King Diamond. The lyrics were about the same things but they go over easier for people when they do not hear those words. Satan to me stands for the Powers of Darkness, Powers of the Unknown. And "Them" are the Power of the Unknown and they are a big part of the new story. If I had decided to name the album in a different way I could have named the album "Satan".

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

NOW THAT HE'S SURVIVED TRIPLE-BYPASS HEART SURGERY, THE METAL LEGEND THANKS SATAN FOR EACH NEW DAY

By MTV Iggy October 15, 2014Words by Laina Dawes

For the past 40 years, King Diamond has made pronounced impact in the metal scene for a number of reasons. As the vocalist for Denmark’s Mercyful Fate, his impressive vocal range — ranging from a high falsetto to a sneering growl — has both electrified audiences and mystified his contemporaries. After all, who does that in metal? Diamond’s (AKA Kim Bendix Petersen) penchant for theatrical face paint resplendent with prominent upside down crosses, dramatic outfits and elaborate stage production strongly represented his loyalty to Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. His interest in Satanism made him a legend among black metal fans as a true believer, not just a “poser” who was more interested in shocking audiences.

After forming Mercyful Fate in 1981, the quintet released a much-coveted, self-titled EP that sent fans across Europe scrambling to find bootleg copies. After releasing two critically acclaimed albums, Diamond temporarily disbanded Mercyful Fate to embark on an incredibly successful solo career, releasing 14 albums.

During the peak of his career, including a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, Diamond suffered a serious setback when in 2010 he underwent triple-bypass surgery. “Reality slams you right in the face,” he says after detailing a grueling recovery. “Today, I don’t take tomorrow for granted.” He has recently proved this by planning a 19-stop North American tour in preparation for the release of Dreams of Horror, a double-vinyl album consisting of remixed and remastered singles.

When asked if there was a time where he thought he’d never sing again, the vocalist, who is known for his powerful voice answers: “I didn’t know what was going to happen for a long time. It was so difficult to learn how to properly breathe, you start to wonder, ‘can I take a big breath again?’” He reveals that while his determination to live fast-tracked his recovery, he is grateful for his wife, Livia Zita, who took it upon herself to take nutritional courses to adjust to his new dietary and medical needs.

Remembering that time, he admits to fearing that he might not make it off the operating table. He recalls wondering how he survived the emergency surgery. “Why do I deserve to be here and have this second chance?” he remembers asking himself. “When you go into that type of surgery, you don’t know if you are going to come back. It’s not for kids. I did this makeshift; handwritten will the night before in the hospital, and you just have to face (that you might not make it).”

In 2011, he was well enough to join Metallica onstage at one of their 30th Anniversary concerts. In 2013 he went on tour for 10 weeks in Europe — “There were some times we had a week between shows, which were very boring,” he recalls, laughing. Earlier this year he was nominated for an additional Grammy award for a guest vocal performance on Volbeat’s single “Room 24,” fully confirming that he was back in action. He is thrilled to say that his health has been better than ever before. “I perform a 90-minute show and we have two floors, with a lot of stairs, including a lot of interaction with the others and its definitely demanding. And you have to keep in mind that as a vocalist singing that style of music you only get about one-fifth of the oxygen that the rest of the band gets,” he explains, adding, “I have to take a breath and then slowly let the air out while singing long notes before I can take a breath and then sing another note.”

Diamond reveals that the planning of a North American tour is more intricate than one might expect. His band, which includes some of the original members of Mercyful Fate, tested out the stage production in Europe to see how it would fare in the American venues they wanted to play in. “We wanted to play on stages that were close in size and depth and it worked, which is how we know that our production will work here. Its going to be amazing, whether you have seen King Diamond before, or not, this is the best time to see us,” he promises.

Earlier this year it was reported that he would be working on new material, but a recent fascination with advanced music recording technology made him change direction. Listen to those early (and grainy) Mercyful Fate recordings and you will understand. Diamond reveals that Metal Blade and Roadrunner Records — the latter having released the bulk of his solo material — have agreed to release a double album of greatest hits and some rarities that were never released. While there are a number of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond “Best Of” albums, Diamond and longtime guitarist Andy LaRocque are selecting the tracks, as with the earlier releases they felt that they didn’t have the expertise to select the songs, or the ability to make production changes. “(Back then) we were in over our heads!” he laughs.

“We decided to enhance the songs we selected. You can call it ‘remastering’ but it is not really like that,” he says. “We went back to our material that was not previously released that we could enhance, working on the bottom end (bass, drums) as on earlier albums, you could really hear how thin it was. We worked on that without changing the overall feel of the song. The details are coming out in a way that you have not heard before, and it is because of the tools we have today.”

The new albums are Diamond’s way of thanking the fans that have supported him throughout the years. Plagued with pain and then focused on physical rehabilitation, he acknowledges there were times that he didn’t properly thank them for their support. Both the surgery and his remarkable comeback have cemented his belief that the real test in life is when you have to face a life-or-death situation. “You find out things about yourself that you didn’t know,” he says, reflecting on his surgery. “You learn to live with pain, but for as bad as it was, it’s been good for a lot of things, too. Life — you need to just grab it and go.”

« Last Edit: February 27, 2015, 06:56:00 pm by SatanKing »

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

Horror Society: King, one of the things that originally drew me to the band 30 years ago was the horror elements. How has horror influenced you in your career?

King Diamond: Well, I can pick from real life most of the time. If I want horror, I just have to look around and see it. Then again, it’s a mix of horror, the supernatural, which I’ve had so many experiences with and then also the satanic life philosophy which cuts through, especially with King Diamond and the stories. There are so many things, how people treat each other that you can just pick from everyday life. Just have your eyes open, be open minded. I’m always waiting to have a discussion or a talk or listen to other people’s ideas and opinions. You are never smart enough or good enough, you can always be better. It’s always going to be like that for me you know. There are so many things that happened where I used to live. I was in a haunted apartment in Copenhagen for many years. A lot of the horror came from there, real experiences but then modified to fit and that’s what I’ve done so many times. I modify what is real and has been real to me. It’s those things I can relate to very strongly and put all my emotions into getting them out. For example, “Grandma”, I had a grandma that was really bad. I took that straight from some of my mother’s stories and modified it to fit into the story. There is so much – I had a wolf that I had from a puppy to one year. It was a gift from my ex-wife a long time ago. It was in our backyard, but it got too big and was given back to the pack it came from. Man, I bonded with it and had a great time and it was part of what was put into the album “House of God”. ‘Angel’, that was the name. That’s taken straight from there. ‘Goodbye’ is the day that I had to say goodbye to it. I bonded with it, but my wife never did. It was a rough playmate in the yard. It had to be a very secure yard and you could not have it free. It got up to my hip and it got really big, and had to be given back to the pack where it came from.

Also, the crazy things, the horror stuff, I don’t know what you can say but it has always been with me. We have stuff here in our house where I am now. It doesn’t happen often, but there are things. On our fan club site, there is a picture from Sweden Rock Festival which shows a parallel universe or something like that, because it can’t be explained. The picture shows me sitting down on a drum riser and you’re supposed to see our actress dressed in all black for a song from the last album, a song called ‘Shades of Black’. She is in full black suit, even her face is black, and you can’t see anything, just black shape. She’s moving around me throughout the song and it gets darker and darker, we actually present the song in black and white, we use no colors on stage, just black and white and it gets darker and darker throughout. Towards the end, I have a lantern where I blow out the candle at the end, its part of the story. She is behind me there and what you see in the picture is, you see one of her legs up to the thigh is like its cut right off up to the thigh. There’s no more of her then that one leg. Everything’s confirmed that it’s her leg, but its cut right through the thigh. There’s no way that she could’ve moved the rest of her body so fast that it would create a blur, there is no blur, it’s a straight cutoff. There is no double exposure, it’s a digital camera. We even went so far as to upload it for the fans to this site and when you do that you get all the settings of the camera in there as well. Everybody could see exactly what the camera was set at, there’s no trickery, and nothing was done by us. Someone else actually had it examined and got the result that I knew it would get that nothing had been manipulated. There is also a shadow that looks like a shadow from that leg, but when you zoom in on it, it looks totally like a hole. So that’s very odd, it doesn’t make sense. There’s no logic in that picture, it’s totally unexplainable.

Metallica’s 30th King Diamond image 8anniversary. At the hotel we stayed at the night we arrived, Brian Slagel was there, Hank Sherman, Michael Denner and Timmy Hansen, I was there and my wife was there. We were the only ones that were left at the hotel bar late at night there. There is a see through person in the back walking in behind the bar. You see straight through the person, but the outline is very sharp. You can see my hand in the picture moving, totally blurry. It doesn’t make sense, unless it’s a ghost. There is no other explanation there. It’s not the first time that I’ve had these experiences in my life. Here in the house too, some of them are little innocent funny things, others things are more serious, a little bigger. I had here in the house at one point, my father-in-law was here and my wife’s whole family was here at Christmas once. Her dad knows that I’m very fascinated by World War II; my dad participated as a freedom fighter in Denmark and had to flee to Sweden. He became part of the Danish brigade and a lot of blah blah, but a lot of interesting stuff for me. I have his arm band from that brigade, his dog tags as well, but before that he was part of doing sabotage in Denmark against the Germans. So I’m very interested in all this and my wife’s dad knew this. Her dad knew from when they had a summer house in a village that was four hours from Budapest, but there was another village next to the one where they had their summer house in. They knew there was a story of a farmer that supposedly had killed an SS officer and when the Russians came to “Liberate” Hungary from the Germans, they just took over. A lot of Germans would try to get civilian clothes to try and get away, and this was one of them. Supposedly, he came into this farm and they say the farmer killed him and took his uniform. The guy died in the boots that I have in front of my fireplace, a pair of SS boots. Not because I’m a Nazi in any way or fashion, but because of the historical value of them. Inside you can see a stamp inside saying who developed those boots. I tried one on and I fit into it, the way it fits on you feels weird. It makes you feel superior in some way, it’s really strange. The way it hugs your calf and stuff like that, you put it on and you feel like you need to command someone around (laughing). It really does feel psychologically weird. I got those for Christmas because he had gone over there and bought them from this farmer and because of my historical interest in this. Then they were put in front of the fireplace. Sometime about 2 in the morning and we had snow that Christmas actually, there was this gigantic noise coming from the living room. It felt like everything that was up on the mantle over the fireplace was swept off and down on the floor in front. I was sure someone was in the house, so immediately I grabbed my gun and I started clearing the house. I saw my sister-in-law come out from her guest bedroom and told her to get back in her room and told my wife to get down behind the bed. When I saw Magic, our cat, she came out from our bathroom, it was like whoa, and it’s not her doing anything in there. I was pretty sure we had an uninvited guest and then I secured the house. I proceeded to turn lights on and thinking that if I turn this one on I’ll see whoever is there and I’ll make sure they don’t see me before its too late. There was nobody, no one in the house. Then I went up into the attic to see if there was anything up there that might’ve fallen over…nothing. I went out with a flashlight and walked around the house in the snow and there was no footprints, nothing, nothing, nothing. It was almost like OK, well Mr. Officer; I guess you are in the house now.

HS: Wow!

KD: That’s just one of these things. Poland for instance, we had four spots in this house. There are these ghost finder apps for fun things; they hit on all those four spots. One does exactly hit those four spots, it whacks out completely on those spots. We brought it with us on the tour here in Warsaw Poland; we stayed in a hotel way up on the high floors. You could see out over the whole city, it was beautiful, but the room was so freaking cold. It was unnaturally could not be that cold for real in the summertime, it simply could not be right. I asked them if they could bring heaters up and stuff like that. So I took that app out and it went nuts. There’s so much between heaven and earth that we will never understand, but it’s very fascinating. For me, I wish that someday I could be hosting some kind of a show to have other metal musicians come by and they scare the piss out of them to have a fun time. For Halloween, you could have a special broadcast where you broadcast from some haunted place. I can tell you I attract this stuff or vice versa. It would also be great to see some of our stories as actual movies. There are a couple of them that would really do well. It’s hard to do when you don’t know anyone in the business. There has to be someone with genuine interest to do justice to these things because B, C, and D movies I’m totally not interested in.

There’s nothing I would ever allow to be done to these stories that doesn’t justify what they’re about. If someone comes in and they’re serious and they have the right capabilities to do it, then probably. Then you know that you have to compromise on story and things like that, that’s the way things are too you know. There are so many things; ‘Them’ and ‘Conspiracy’, there are different beginnings that were never mentioned on the album. There is only so much space on an album; I have so much stuff that happens in-between the two albums that make up the story. The ending, I know exactly how it would be for a movie that is not on the album. There are a lot of things; I have names for all the characters. A lot of stuff was put into it, just for me to understand it better, to have a better idea to make sure all the stuff was right. For ‘Abigail II’ for example, I had to create that family tree that’s inside the book just so I could make sure I didn’t make a mistake, that everybody was correct ages, correct this, correct that. That’s the thing when you do stories, you have to go over and over to make sure before you let go of it, it’s correct. I would love to see some of those stories like ‘Them’, ‘Conspiracy’, ‘The Puppet Master’, some of those would really do well. I mean even ‘Abigail’ would do fine.

HS: A lot of your material would be perfect as a horror film. Have you ever wanted to write a screenplay using your material?

KD: That’s the thing you know. It’s very hard to find time to sit down and write for me. But I would have an easier time collaborating with someone if that was the case. There’s been people who came to us, there was one in England recently, that came and said they had a script here and this and that. Well, King can’t read it because we don’t do anything until we have a business plan from you. We need to have something and then you need to sign a nondisclosure agreement because there’s always these traps, that’s why we have lawyers to prevent these traps where someone says “Now I showed them a script, so anything that’s going to come from now on, I can claim as based on mine.” It’s like no, no, I’ve never seen a script in my life so far. I would only read one if there have been all these contracts set up the correct way, and then I would of course, sit and figure it out. So there is always that stuff, the legal part. If someone comes from a real company and spells it out legally, then you could start collaborating. I could definitely collaborate on a lot of things, you take out a couple of days or a week or weekend or whatever and you talk the stories through in detail, what could be, what could not be. All my other ideas that I have about these stories that you can’t get on an album, it’s not like a book or anything like that. It’s just all the main points. I could collaborate with people easy if that was ever the case. You still hope for someday that it would come true because it would be very interesting I think. Grandma could be another Freddy Krueger if people did it right. You’ll never see your own grandmother the same way again if you had someone do that story correct you know.

HS: King, a lot of your videos are like mini horror movies. Are there any horror films that inspired you?

KD: There are a lot of horror movies that inspire me you could say. I’ll always go out of my way to try and not copy anything in the stories, same with the music, I go out of my way to try and make sure that I do not copy anyone with anything. We have a very unique style and that’s part of the reason why we are doing better than we have ever done these days. We are still going stronger than ever on the theater road because we will never jump in on the fashion wagon. It was always us doing everything straight from the heart. That’s one thing that has created this solid base that is really growing at the moment.

Fans that are so dedicated because they know they can trust us and they know how we are. For instance, a lot of albums are not out in Japan, simply because they want to have these special editions with bonus tracks and I refuse to milk the fans and be like that, I cannot be like that. They have to go and get that one extra song and buy the album one more time. That’s bullshit man; I can’t deal with that kind of stuff. That’s totally taking advantage of your own fans. They know that too about us and that’s why they are so hardcore, trustworthy fans.Of course I’m inspired by a lot of these old movies you know, but also later on, there are movies that are not so much blood and gore. If there is a place in a movie where it has that, then do it and do it right so it is really effective. But movies that live on that, that’s not really my style. It’s more like the psychological horror that scares you inside, that makes you think afterwards. The thing with ‘The Puppet Master’ where evil totally wins in the end is an ending where it’s a horrible ending for this person that has been turned into a doll that’s hanging in a wall in a shop somewhere and will never ever see his love again, which has also been turned into a puppet but is in another place. Things are really not right at the end there and there is no hope for good to happen, that’s how it ends. It just leaves you with that, you will never forget it if you read the story through. You will never forget it because it has that impact of “man that was not right”, and sometimes that’s a good way to do things too. It will make people think and they will bring it up many times in the future. Of course, you are entranced by everything you see and hear.

When I start writing music, the way I do it, I shut everything down. I don’t listen to other people’s music from the day I start writing until the day we’re done with the album. I do not listen to other stuff. It has to be me; it has to come from me, all of it. That’s how it has always been. There was one thing from the album ‘Them’, there is a song called “The Accusation Chair” that was so close to The Twilight Zone theme that someone came up to me and said they loved the way I incorporated the Twilight Zone theme in that song. I was like, not sure what you’re talking about. I never seen it, I grew up in Denmark, I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m sorry. Then I checked it out and I was like “Oh my God!” I think there were two notes different, but the theme I used was slightly different. There are only so many notes and so many ways you can put them together. That was one of those where I hit something that I had no chance of having ever heard before. It was a very small thing, it didn’t make or break the song you know, and it was an interesting coincidence.

HS: To talk about your stage show a little bit, is it hard to weave your stage show around your music, to incorporate all that? Do your band members help collaborate on designing your stage show or is it just you?

KD: Well, it’s me, my wife helps a little bit, Andy was part of it, and our lighting engineer was part of it. It is collaboration of course but I had the majority of ideas because I wrote the lyrics and I have a certain thing that I would like for people to see, if it’s possible to see. That’s where we do different things, I have a lot of ideas for the lighting engineer and it’s up to him to carry them out. He carries a lot of them out perfectly. Some of it he comes up with new ideas. People are on the same level to a degree you know, but of course it has to come from me, these things because I wrote the lyrics and I know what things I would like to see. Those lighting effects, they work and the way he moves certain shadows around by lighting things in the front and the back, front and the back. I work on a lot of those things with him, this year we were in Germany and worked for a whole week with full production, full lights, it could’ve been a concert, the whole week but there was nobody there but us. Working and perfecting the whole thing, getting it right, getting the lights right. After the first show, I sit and look at pictures and videos afterwards and we had to drop the hollow spot because I saw things, working with the actress on the song “Voodoo” where she is a voodoo priestess. I’m standing with a follow spot on me and she stands without a follow spot on me and this poison green color and I looked whiter and it didn’t look like we were in the same room. It didn’t fit the mood, the mood is much more important than seeing me in a follow spot which I don’t care about. It’s the whole presentation that matters to me, it’s the theater, it’s not me me me, it has nothing to do with that. It’s a process that a lot of people work on. I hope that next year we can bring back the coffin for cremation and burn me on stage again.

That’s one thing, my back can do it, and I know how it’s done, the trick, so I know I can do it. It just has to be overhauled and fixed up. There’s things that are not tight enough and that has to be fixed and repaired so that it’s totally safe again. I’d love to bring that back plus some other effects that we’re going to have that I won’t talk about yet. If that happens and we can add that to the show, it’s going to be a jaw dropper totally. It’s already really very effective.

People don’t bring what we bring and we make sure we can actually adjust it a little bit so we can fit it in the bigger indoor places with stages for theaters. In the U.S. it should fit next time. It fills out the festival stages in Europe. It’s not just that we bring in a backdrop you know and a bunch of amps. You don’t even see the amps on our set. It looks like the end of a church; it’s a two stories, stairs leading up, candelabras, big crosses that can light up sitting upside down up in the balcony. All kinds of stuff, Grandma’s in there in the wheelchair and you interact with her. There’s a voodoo priestess and a pregnant wife, black horsemen and all this stuff. She’s been with us since the ‘Voodoo’ album so she’s been there for 13 or 14 years. She’s the puppet in the Puppet Master, it’s amazing what she adds to it, but it’s her and I and we have ideas on how to do it. It’s really up where it has not been before. The way it looks is extremely impressive I can tell you. It’s the size of Iron Maiden’s show.

HS: I agree. Your stage show is so impressive; it’s almost like going to a haunted house.Mercyful Fate image

KD: Yeah, you’re right. It seems like when people take pictures of it, it’s haunted for real.

« Last Edit: October 24, 2016, 01:09:24 pm by SatanKing »

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

HS: King, if you had a dream project, what do you think that might be?

KD: A dream project? Man, one of the movies, if that were ever to happen in the right hands. Someone who was really serious and had the power to do it right. That has been a dream my whole career, to see one of those come to life for real, that would be like “Wow”. I’d even go out and write some new songs for it, brand new material. There’s a lot of stuff that would be extremely interesting to see because that’s a level I’ve never been at. It’s a thing that I’m not expecting will happen so if it ever happens, it will be an amazing bonus. It hasn’t happened all these years so why would it suddenly happen now? For us as a band, I’d like to see us go up up up you know. From here on, it’s not like people want to see us because we came back from whatever happened to me, it’s amazing what has happened and that I can go on and be better than I have ever been in my career. The band sounds better; everything is where it should be. We get invited to headline all these big things and we spent the whole summer over in Europe. Next year for Wacken, that was the first one that was announced, there will be a bunch more for Europe next year and then the U.S. should be in the Autumn next year. Whether there is a new album out or not, we will do our best, we will be writing and It’s a matter of whether it’s going to be done or not. We are not going to rush; it’s just going to be right. Once we get up and running with this new system that I’ve told you about, it’s also going to make us more productive because we will have everything at our fingertips.

HS: What about a long awaited DVD or Blu-ray? Any plans for that?

KD: We might have that from Japan. We will play over there on the 20th of October. We have as part of the deal; we have to give them as headliner 5 songs for a TV special that they are going to produce. That means they are shooting the whole thing with 10 cameras. Copies of all the 10 camera footage in case there is something we don’t like in their edit then we can go in and replace it with another camera because we have them all. Once we have that, we might as well do the whole concert and then take 5 of the best for their TV special but then we sit with the rest and what do we do with it? Once they’ve used it for the TV, we can use it for advertisement and then maybe do a special Japanese release of all the DVD/CD live set. It would be perfect to shoot it and then have it.Without saying anything specific, there’s a chance, we have bought the rights to record it anyway. We have to give them something, so why not do the whole thing. Then, that could be our way to get our foot into the Japanese market where we’ve never really been doing anything. They love horror over there you know. It will come natural once they see our show.

HS: Are you excited to be a part of Metal Blade Records now?

KD: Absolutely! From what I understand, they are doing very well. We have a very good deal with them and look very much forward to the next three albums that we signed on for. We have a great relationship.

HS Will we ever see Mercyful Fate reunited again in the near future?

KD: There are no immediate plans but that’s the question a lot of people will be asking. The answer is the same, I would never say no to that. That’s always a possibility, you never know. These days if you want to do it, it has to be done right. It demands a lot and that means someone has to have money to do it. That’s the one thing these days, if you want to do something, you have to do it right. I know now from King Diamond from being away from the scene for a little while and then catching up, with the internet and the fan club and everything you have to do, work on sponsorship, work on all kinds of stuff to get it up and get off to the right level. Where we are now with King Diamond, it’s much better than we’ve ever been but it’s a lot of work to get it up to there. When you think about it, it’s the same lineup in King Diamond we’ve had for 10 or 12 years now, which is great too. It definitely makes everybody tight. With Mercyful Fate also who is in Mercyful Fate right now? I don’t know. If anyone wanted Mercyful Fate again in some way, are we talking the old Mercy? No one has gathered the old old lineup with Kim Ruzz you know. Simply because no one knew what his skill was at, if he could play or whatever. It’s all these things once you start talking about that stuff, you hope people’s egos are not getting in the way of making things happen, if somebody wanted to try and make it happen. You never know, you never know what can happen. It would really have to be done right. An interesting concept would be to have the really old lineup and go and play only from the early stuff, ‘Melissa’ and ‘Don’t Break the Oath’, and do only that, and show people that these guys can still kick some serious ass! All these people have families and work; they can’t go out on a big tour, that’s a fact. Then you would have to play selective shows here and there. To do it correctly, imagine all the time it would take to get it up and running. A lot of work, a lot of people’s wages to be paid, that’s what I’m getting at. Someone has to have a lot of money to make that happen because people’s situations right now. I wouldn’t mind doing it, not at all, it would be very interesting.

HS: That would be awesome, I’m sure the fans would go nuts over that.

KD: With Mercy, they have never done bigger stuff than King Diamond and we are still going up. We always sold more, we’ve played bigger places, we got more this and that, and it’s always been the case. King Diamond is the one where it started with all the conceptual albums and horror and that respect. King Diamond was always ten times more satanic actually. People say no Mercy, but no no, King Diamond has all the satanic philosophies there. It’s very very full of the supernatural, Mercy has more of the myths you know, pointing fingers a little here and there. Talk about Headless riders, those different kinds of myths there. I always carry a letter from Anton Lavey with me on tour. I have a hand written letter from him that his own daughter didn’t believe I had because he never wrote anyone by hand, it was always dictated. I had the pleasure of meeting him and spending a night at the church out in San Francisco. He gave me eternal membership and the things he wrote in the letter, most people would not understand what it’s about and I’m not going to tell them. There are other things in the letter that are very special; I will always have it with me. I see King Diamond as much more if you want to say Satanic than Mercyful Fate ever was. That’s why with King Diamond now we have upside down crosses and we have the gigantic Baphomet symbol so it almost looks like a church inside. Mercy had so much originality in it. It has a different value then King Diamond has you know, they’re two very different things. That’s why there’s room for both. King Diamond is extremely theatrical and Mercy is more straight forward because it’s complex. We still play a couple songs in the King Diamond set; we play “Come To the Sabbath” and “Evil”.

HS: That’s incredible. King, I could talk to you all day, I’m sure but I don’t want to hold you up. You’re a true legend in the music industry and I’ve been listening to you for 30 years. It’s a total honor to speak with you and I thank you so much for taking time out to talk with me. I wish you the best of luck with your health and your career. I can’t wait for new stuff from you guys.

KD: We can’t wait to get moving on new material and do more of this. Not just me, but the whole band got a second life now. We have to get our ass to Chicago too, but that’s one of our strongholds, I’m sure we’ll be there soon.

HS: I’ll be there when you come back.

KD: It was great talking to you too.

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

You’re probably the most famous member of the Church Of Satan after founder Anton LaVey. What kind of role does the Church play in your life these days?

King: It’s with me everyday, but it’s not like I need to talk to someone from the Church to confirm it. I’m actually gonna call Karla [LaVey, Anton’s daughter] so I can hook up with her when we’re in San Francisco, but I am what I am, and I’ve always been what I am. My thoughts have not changed. It’s not a religion—it never was. It’s a life philosophy. I see myself as a spiritual person, but I don’t think anyone should claim proof of a god. No one can prove it. That’s why I don’t claim to know whether there are one, many or no gods. But my beliefs have only gotten stronger as a result of my experiences.

When I visited you last year, you showed me a letter that Anton LaVey had written you. You said I would forget its contents after reading it, and I did. I know you won’t say what’s written in it, but could you talk about its significance to you?

King: The letter that I showed you, I always have it with me on tour. That experience of meeting Dr. LaVey, going to the Church and getting certain confirmations meant so much to me, but I didn’t need the Satanic Bible to confirm my life philosophy. I already saw things that way before I ever read the book, but it was very interesting to see it in writing. And then to meet them and see how serious they were about what they were doing—it wasn’t just some gimmick for money. I met with LaVey, just him and I, for an hour and a half in the ritual chamber. I told him how I felt and he took his baphomet symbol off and pressed it into my hand. And then he let me in on some things that you saw in that letter, which I told you you’d forget about. [Laughs] Everyone who has seen it will forget it.

J. Bennett still has no idea what that goddamn letter says.

"I have a special necklace, the one that I have and the one my wife has. For me there is a power in it that was given when something supernatural happened when we lost our black cat that was called “Magic”. We had her for 18 years but that whole night, something unique happened and what she did was something supernatural and we went and got these made. That’s one thing that we do, grab sometimes and what happened" - King Diamond

I wonder what happened that night!

« Last Edit: November 13, 2014, 08:05:32 pm by SatanKing »

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

Thanks SatanKing for putting these up. Very interesting read. I was wondering the other day why he chose the name King Diamond, but even in the early days he does not seem to know. Well the King part makes perfect sense. I guess he was just playing cards or something.

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"And I'm just the devil with love to spareViva Las Vegas Viva Las Vegas" - The King

The band is a legend, the man a myth. When two years ago word came in that the Danish outfit were about to reform and record a new album, my first and initial reaction was one of displeasure. I did not believe that fate would be as merciful to the band as it once had been. Having released In The Shadows at the beginning of last year and the somewhat pointless EP, The Bellwitch (originally a Westwood Live broadcast this summer), frontman King Diamond, guitarists Michael Denner and Hank Sherman, bassist Sharlee Angelo and drummer Snowy Shaw are about to unleash their new effort entitled Time. It is an appropriate moment to face King and put my perspectives before him. “Not at all,” marches King verbally when I wonder if he regrets the band’s reunion. “Especially when you hear the new one!” I am interested to know how King sees In The Shadows, however, before we get to Time. “It’s a really good album. There are a lot of good songs there.” King feels, “It belongs with the other albums, but what I can hear listening back is that we were newly together again. After not playing together for eight years, it takes time (pun intended?) to capture the magic and be comfortable with each other.” I am sure everyone is eager to hear about the new album. “I will first tell you about the two videos.” He begins, “We are shooting them here in LA. One is called Nightmare Be Thy Name. It deals with a guy who has a curse hanging over him. The Master of Dreams, or whoever is making up those dreams, and sticking them in his head. The dreams are like nightmares to him because they are like second sight. He sees the future of people, which he doesn’t want to, and he wants the Master of Dreams to stop playing those games. But he knows that he won’t stop. The master of dreams will go after him to the grave and beyond.”

Who is the master of dreams and what inspired this song?“I don’t know who he is,” the singer disclaims. “I have experienced deja-vu quite a few times – it’s weird. It’s weird sitting in a situation, which you’ve already been through and realize that if I do this then what will happen.

“I remember in old Mercyful Fate being on the tour bus,” further narrates the Dane. “I had just been dreaming that I had a big argument with Kim Ruzz, and I say something that shuts him up. I wake up and I couldn’t believe it. I did have the argument with him I realized if I said this I would shut him up. I said it, just like the dream, and he shut up!”

The second video, Witches Dance, is an outdoor shoot. It’s about a guy who’s asleep and is dreaming of the darkened sky with the moon outside being just like a demon’s eye dancing on the blackened sky. It just feels like nothing is real in his dream. He suddenly hears an evil chant and feels like these shadows lurking around him and closing in. He is taken out of his bed by these cold hands, which lead him into the woods. In the forest, he sees a fire burning and hooded shapes around it. There is a throne of silver and he realizes that, including him, there are thirteen people there. A ritual is about to be performed, and being twelve, these people needed another person. So they grabbed him out of his bed. But he is still dreaming – remember that. Then he sees Satan on the throne and before him they must take their turn. Whoever walks into the fire in the dance must be sacrificed. Later, the first verse repeats, except ‘was’ is now ‘is.’ Finally, the guy wakes up and you don’t know if he’s going to experience this for real in the woods now that he’s up. Or is he dreaming for a second time?”

What will happen? “ I don’t know,” hesitates King. “It’s for people to figure out what will happen,

Time stands out because it has weird instruments from beginning to end,” King Diamond begins detailing the album. “It’s very mystical – melodic at first and strange later. It has three sets of vocals at the same time. It ends super heavy with full power and choirs. It just gets heavier and heavier. The song wishes you could save beautiful moments to use later on. The Mad Arab is a story, which will continue on the next album. It has some extremely heavy shit. Angel Of Light is a glorification of Lucifer. It also refers to The Oath.”

That particular song was the actual oath of Satan, I interject.

“No, it was a mix of different initiations,” the singer pensively clarifies. “You can’t write the real initiation process in lyrics. It’s too long anyway. The song was more of a ‘best of’ what goes on. There’s no way you can put all that needs to be done in a song. That’s always the problem with lyrics, which is why it’s good to do concept albums. You get the space you need.“The Preacher is a fist in the face of all these preachers,” King further proves the new album to be good. “there is one called Robert Tilton: one fucking phony jerk. He took advantage of people so bad he is being sued now. In one case, this old woman, whose husband was very sick, was sending him money asking him to pray for her husband. He would send letters back saying send more money, send more money. One day, he got this lawsuit through the door. This TV preacher was saying, “if you don’t send money, we can’t save your husband.” And the woman’s husband was dead for a month!”

Hovering around the subject of religion I tell King Diamond that I need his definitive statement regarding his religious beliefs. To my pleasant surprise he does not hold back. “Oh, I am a full-blown Satanist.”

I interviewed Glen Benton of Deicide a while ago. He opinionated that you are not an advocate of Satan. You both claim to be disciples of Satan. What is the conflict?” There are many different kinds of Satanism and, yes, I am a member of the Church Of Satan (headed by Rev. Anton LaVey),” King Diamond responds to my inquiry. “I’ve been invited to the church and spent a night there. When people see the word ‘Satan’ they see only negative. Satan is not only bad, to me. It represents both sides of everything. I don’t believe in the Christian devil.“Christianity has both God and the devil. I believe there is neither of these two. I believe in the powers of the unknown, which I have experienced many times. I know that rituals work. I don’t do them often because you can easily misuse them. They will get back at you if you don’t respect them. Some people think Satanism is what the Christian church portrays it to be. If you are as bad and as evil as you can be and you think that’s Satanism you have become part of the Christian religion. I call it Christian Satanism. That never has and never will have anything to do with me. All those people who complain of Satanism, what do they know of it? Where do they get their knowledge? Book, TV or what the priest told them? Very often people who go nuts and kill say they did it in the name of Satan. No, they didn’t! They did it in the name of the preacher. A person who does that is insane beyond savage to begin with.”

Will King go as far as recommending the Church, I ponder.” The Church Of Satan is the way to go for me,” is King’s stance. But I have always respected the fact that people are different and have different needs.”

As for the Deicide main man,” With Glen Benton, I don’t give a flying fuck what he says about me or what he thinks I am! It would be a waste of my energy to think about him. I have my own beliefs and live my own way. If he just lives in a fantasy, pretending, I suggest he changes himself to fulfill his own dream. I hope he is sincere and serious about what he is saying. Otherwise, it’s just a charade. You’re not making anybody happy. Least of all yourself!”

Remaining on controversial grounds, I can’t help but steer the conversation to Cathedral and, more specifically, vocalist Lee Dorian’s contentions in the press concerning the lack of professionalism in the Mercyful Fate camp. “Usually I don’t give a shit what people say,” retorts King in his confident tone. “It’s a matter of professionalism. Our tour with Cathedral was their first, which was longer than a week. Usually, I am not at the venue until ten minutes before the show. I don’t get to see all the politics and the crap with the crews hating each other, et cetra. “It all started with Cathedral demanding a sound check. Like, yeah, right, you are the third band on the bill and you demand a sound check? What do you fucking think this is, man? Have you ever been on tour before?“We had promoters promising this and that in our contacts. If we don’t get it and if we play it sounds weak and distorted. People shouldn’t pay to see a band that sounds like shit. So, in such instances we don’t play. One night at New Orleans, we cancelled a show because the promoter had nothing in there that he should have. But Cathedral played anyway. Then Lee Dorian started jerking off on stage. I don’t know if he was high or whatever – saying shit like ‘that faggot King Diamond. I told their manager to tell him to come right here to the bus and say it to my face. If he means it he will say it to my face and I’ll fucking fix it for him. He never showed up. They never showed up. Never saw them again. Probably hiding in the cathedral.”

The chat, however, ends with another endorsement of Mercyful Fate’s fourth full-length album. “This is much more well produced and a lot harder. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the studio,” informs King. “We recorded it at Dallas Communication Complex and got into detail with everything and you’ll hear it too!”

The album sounds more than a tad interesting and the motley frontman was certainly more than liberal in his statements. The man is currently in the studio recording Spider’s Lullaby with his band King Diamond after which Mercyful Fate will head to Europe for a tour. US and Canadian fans will be able to see the band live as of mid-January. See you there in ‘time.’

This interview initially appeared in Pit Magazine No. 12.

« Last Edit: August 01, 2015, 08:10:00 am by SatanKing »

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond

Count: You are welcome and yes I love hearing him explain the lyrics to his songs. I will have to add these to the other ones he has explained. And I too did not know about the guy from Cathedral acting like that! I knew about Glen Benton but then Glen hates everyone it seems.

Good question about the New Orleans show.

Also curious what he means when he says " I know that rituals work. I don’t do them often because you can easily misuse them. They will get back at you if you don’t respect them". He mentioned that before too how he does not do rituals as often as he used to as he has too much respect for the Powers

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"Satanism is about the Powers/Spirits of Darkness/Unknown" - King Diamond